Revered by millions, the Papacy is an international power that many nations have viewed with suspicion, some have tried to control, and not a few have spied upon. Ranging across two centuries of world history, David Alvarez's fascinating study throws open the Vatican's doors to reveal the startling but little-known world of espionage in one of the most sacred places on earth.

Reviewing the pontificates of ten popes--from Pius VII, Napoleon's nemesis, to Pius XII, maligned by some as "Hitler's pope"--Alvarez provides the first history of the intelligence operations and covert activities...

Since the revelation of the so-called Ultra Secret, the importance of codebreaking and signals intelligence in the diplomacy and military operations of World War II has become increasingly evident. No history of the war is complete without a careful consideration of the role of cryptanalysis. Studies of wartime signals intelligence, however, have largely focused on Great Britain and the United States and their successes against, respectively, the German Enigma and Japanese Purple cipher machines. Drawing upon newly available sources in Australia, Britain, China, France, and the United States,...

Since the revelation of the so-called Ultra Secret, the importance of codebreaking and signals intelligence in the diplomacy and military operations of World War II has become increasingly evident. No history of the war is complete without a careful consideration of the role of cryptanalysis. Studies of wartime signals intelligence, however, have largely focused on Great Britain and the United States and their successes against, respectively, the German Enigma and Japanese Purple cipher machines. Drawing upon newly available sources in Australia, Britain, China, France, and the United States,...